1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to roller bearings and is concerned with separators designed to form a cage for the rollers of roller bearings, which separators may be used in bearings of different types but having identical rollers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Apertured separators for thrust bearings with cylindrical rollers are already known. With these apertured separators of known type, which contain a roller, two consecutive separators are in contact over cylindrical surfaces whose generatrices are parallel to the axis of the thrust bearing. Thus apertured separators of this type have a convex cylindrical portion on one side and a concave cylindrical portion on the other. In a roller cage made of consecutive separators, a concave cylindrical portion co-operates with a convex cylindrical portion.
The above-mentioned cylindrical surfaces are effectively in contact in a thrust roller bearing, the race dimensions of which can be calculated from the geometrical form of the separators used.
The same apertured separators of known type, used in a thrust bearing with cylindrical rollers whose race has different radial dimensions, then no longer allow a true contact surface between them. In fact, in the case of a thrust bearing whose race dimensions are larger, the separators touch along a single line of contact, which is the generatrix of the intended contact surface most distant from the axis of the thrust bearing. Conversely, in the case of a bearing thrust whose radial dimensions are smaller, the separators touch at the generatrix of the intended contact surface closest to the axis of the thrust bearing. These linear contacts cause an angular deviation of the axes of the rollers contained in these apertured separators whose cylindrical surfaces are not in contact with each other. The rollers, whose axes are then removed from their ideal positions, wear prematurely.